Report on Tapalpa Magik

Andres Reynoso
Posts: 247
Joined: December 22nd, 2010, 10:38 am
Location: Mexico D.F.

Report on Tapalpa Magik

Postby Andres Reynoso » March 24th, 2017, 8:38 pm

On March 10th-12nd was held at Tapalpa, Jalisco, Mexico, the fifth edition of Tapalpa Magik, a close up magic convention organized by Javier Natera and Dani DaOrtiz. This is the second time I attend and I heard each year there are more participants. This year maybe 40-50 persons.

The activities begun on Friday afternoon with a lecture by Giancarlo Scalia who explained some fine tricks and performed a one hand spread. Then there was a dinning with quesadillas, discada and grilled chicken courtesy of Jorge Betancourt from Enigma Magic (Monterrey, Mexico) Finishing with a Q&A session with the cast: Giancarlo Scalia, Dani DaOrtiz, Yann Frisch, Paco Rodas, Mahdi Gilbert and Howard Hamburg. The themes were very diverse: tricks, techniques, theory, opinions and anecdotes. Past midnight and until around 2:00 am was the first part of a seminar (extra charge) with Dani DaOrtiz. A lot of theory and really good philosophy. This seminar was shared with Yann Frisch, but due time constraints had to be divided into two parts. The first one was just Dani.

On Saturday, Biktor Chavez talked about misdirection and his new book on the theme. Mahdi gave a 2 hour show/lecture explaining a lot of his unique techniques. Dani followed with a lecture with his superb cards. Then Yann explained all Baltass act, a delight to see.
Yann continued with the second part of the seminar, he dedicated his time to lap techniques and asked all the attendants (around 16 persons) to take some coins and cards, sit around a table and practice the lap ideas he was talking about. I think it was a very good aproach for a workshop. Everybody practicing.

The day closed with a close up gala, around 2 hours long and more than 15 artists.
People still sessioning around until 4:00 am

Sunday. Howard Hamburg told some histories about old times at the Magic Castle, anecdotes about Dai Vernon, Larry Jennings, Bruce Cervon, Francis Carlyle and others. Great pleassure to meet him, a nice gentleman with great histories and amazing magic.
The convention ended with a final Q&A session, where everybody talked about his impressions in the last days and Paco Rodas told anecdotes on Arturo de Ascanio.

Around 3:00 pm activities ended and a van transported some of us to Guadalajara (the state’s capital, 2 and a half hours on the road) people who trevelled on their cars stayed more time.

At Guadalajara begun a new adventure, I had 6 hours before my flight. I went to dinner with some fellows, then shared the taxi with other friends and at the airport met with more magicians. All the planes to Mexico City were delayed but the waiting was easygoing because all the time found friends to talk with, the last minutes we were doing magic.
I enjoyed very much this convention, Tapalpa is a quite town, the hotel Villas Cassis is located over a hill with a great sight. The magic, friendship and connivance.
Andres Reynoso

Return to “Convention Reports”